When we were younger
by AgentOfAngst
Summary: Tadashi, Wasabi, and GoGo have been friends for years .Here's a look at the friendship and adventures they shared as children while they helped each other through their rough childhood years
1. Sword Fight

**I've** **been wanting to write a Tadashi, Wasabi and GoGo as children story for a while (Fred will be in the next chapter) but I had one _major_ problem, real names. GoGo has one, Leiko Tomago. But Wasabi wasn't as easy. So I finally caved and made up a name. Ginger is the commonly used last name, for the first name I settled on is Wesley. My reasoning is that his nickname might be similar to his real name.**

**2019 was a great year for my BH6 stories.** **I wrote 16 BH6 stories this year (including this one) and I intend to write so many more in 2020, as well as finish the multi-chaptered stories I wrote****, including Moving Too Fast, Heroes' Journey, and this. Enjoy and feel free to suggest more BH6 stories I can write!**

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_They're not coming. They're not coming, they're not coming, they're not coming. They forgot about you. They picked someone better. They're not coming. Give up._ Those thoughts must have run through Wesley Ginger's head a thousand times before he saw the heads of his two best friends in the distance, racing toward him.

"I won!" Leiko Tomago pointed out as Tadashi Hamada caught his breath.

"You won," he agreed, offering a fist bump to Wesley.

"What's up, Wes?" Wes shifted from foot to foot, thinking about the answers. He wore a green sweater even though it wasn't that cold, and his dreadlocks were tied back in a ponytail. He was the tallest of the trio and the clumsiest. When they raced or skated, he came in last.

"I was worried that you wouldn't come," Wes admitted, looking down.

Tadashi laughed sadly, "You always think that, and we always come." Tadashi always wore a baseball cap and t-shirts and he was almost always smiling. If they didn't have something to do Tadashi was always the one to come up with ideas.

"You're worried for no reason," Leiko said, crossing her arms like she was about to scold Wes for being irrational again. It wouldn't be the first time. She kept her hair boyishly short and wore clothes that were a little too big for her so she could pass as a guy in her less than safe neighborhood. She wore a leather jacket that was too big for her now. She could handle herself in a fight but it was better to not take any chances when she was alone.

"Sorry," Wes squeaked, a little intimidated by his best friend. That's what they were. A trio of best friends, who had each other's backs despite the hardships that they each went through.

"How long do we have?" Tadashi asked, checking a watch his little brother had fixed up for him that had been left in the Cafe lost and found for years.

"I have an hour," Wes said apologetically, once more speaking to the concrete. His parents would want to know where he was and would call him in for family dinner. They got mad if he was late. They'd send his older brother Damon looking for him if they were late.

"I have all night," Leiko said, not knowing if her dad would be home tonight and not especially wanting him to be.

"I should probably go back to the cafe after a bit. Help close down," Tadashi said thoughtfully.

"Do you like, get paid for that?" Wes asked.

"Aunt Cass sometimes gives me spending money from the tip jar but that's about it."

"Do you think that she would hire me?" Wes asked, the wheels in his head turning.

"I'm pretty sure she can't legally hire 13-year-olds," Tadashi informed his friend. Wes sighed. He was a little bit older than his friends, but they were in the same grade.

"But you can talk to her about it! She's always happy to see you guys." Wes's face lit up again. There was something about the welcoming environment of the cafe that made him feel at home. They didn't go there often because Wes insisted on paying for his own food instead of accepting freebies from Tadashi, but sometimes they had money and got to indulge. Wes knew that money didn't grow on trees. His parents were always quick to remind him of that.

"Maybe someday soon."

"So what are we going to do today?" Leiko asked.

"Let's go to the park," Tadashi suggested with a grin, "we can sword fight."

"We don't have swords," Leiko pointed out even though she knew that wasn't a problem.

"There's always fallen tree branches."

"Yeah, a game I can win!" Wes cheered.

"Sorry that not everyone spends hours watching fencing tutorials," Leiko said with an eye roll, "If it were a real fight I'd destroy you." She sent some playful jabs in his direction, not even close to actually hitting him. He still flinched away.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Leiko said suddenly, seriously, frowning at her friend.

"Yeah, I know… I just get freaked out by stupid things. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing for crap that isn't your fault," Leiko ordered, arms crossed. Wes put on his best, everything is okay smile for her and nodded.

"Yes ma'am." Tadashi looked back at both of them, rolled his eyes good-naturedly, and grabbed them by the arm so they would hurry up and make the most of the hour that they had.

"I'm fixing up the old projector in my garage," Tadashi said with a grin, "you know what that means?"

"Means you need help on another project," Wes guessed, delighted. Tadashi had sparked his and Leiko's love of creating. Tadashi, after all, was the one who had the tools and the support of his family. Wes and Leiko only had Tadashi's tools, his garage work space, and his unwavering enthusiasm for their craft.

"No, well, yes, but it means we can have movie nights."

"I can't hang out at night," Wes reminded.

"That's just an expression. It doesn't have to be at night."

"That sounds good," Wes admitted, "if we ever agree on a movie."

"I'm not watching another stupid romance or mindless action flick or anything that's just a cash grab."

"What movies are left then?" Wes laughed, grabbing a tree branch and initiating the duel. Leiko grabbed her own branch quickly and fought back while Tadashi searched for his own weapon. The trio debated the pros and cons of different movies as they fought. Wes was trying to extol the virtues of Christmas movies, Leiko insisted that the only movies that were worth it were the ones that were saying something important in a way that hadn't been done before.

"Like what Slaughterhouse Five said about war," Leiko said.

"The title alone makes me not want to read that book," Wes said with a shudder.

"You need to read it it's eye opening."

"I'll read it if you read it, Wes," Tadashi said, "I bet we could get copies from the library.

"...Fine, I'll read it. But Leiko has to watch Christmas movies with us in December."

"One Christmas movie," Leiko bargained.

"Three. The Santa Clause trilogy."

"Fine."

"Yes! Aw man I should have picked a more romantic Christmas movie."

"You don't get to make me suffer more than you're already going to."

"I'm not trying to make you suffer, Holiday Inn and White Christmas are gorgeous, romantic Christmas movies."

"That sounds terrible. Romance isn't bad but why do movies need it if it doesn't say anything important?"

"Some things can just be mindless. I already overthink everything, sometimes I want to watch something safe that I already know the ending to and can turn my brain off while I watch." Their duel was getting pretty heated, with Tadashi switching sides on a whim.

"I guess I didn't think about that," Leiko admitted and Wes grinned before (accidentally) slamming his tree branch into her and hitting her in the arm.

"Ow," Leiko groaned, sinking to the ground and holding her arm.

"I'm so so sorry!" Wes yelped, sinking down next to her and looking her over in concern.

"It's fine you didn't mean it," Leiko sighed, eyes squeezed closed.

"Let me look at your arm," Tadashi suggested, having a bit of first aid experience from caring for his brother. Leiko rolled up the sleeve of her leather jacket and Tadashi looked it over, eyes widening at what he saw.

"Leiko, these bruises couldn't possibly be from Wes hitting you just now."

"It's okay, I can handle it."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Wes asked, feeling sympathetic. He put a hand on her shoulder. Then he glanced over at Tadashi and noticed his watch.

"Oh crap it's after 6 I have to go I'll see you tomorrow if I'm not grounded-" but he already heard Damon's voice, which meant his big brother had been sent to go get him. Which meant that he would definitely be grounded.

"WESLEY PAYTON GINGER!" Damon bellowed. Wes jumped up, head hung in shame.

"They're just worried about me," he mumbled, feeling a thousand eyes on him.

"Family time is important to them," he muttered.

"Hey, Leiko," Tadashi said after they watched Wesley leave sadly, "come back to the cafe with me and I'll get you some ice for your bruises. You can stay for dinner."

"No, it's okay, I don't want to interrupt your family time."

"Yeah, and I don't want you to go back to yours. I don't think you and Wes know what family time is."

"Don't worry Tadashi. We know what family time is. We have you."


	2. The Wrong Tools

**A couple of personal head-canon things you might need to know, Wes is 13 in the story (Birthday: 9/22) and Leiko is 12 and will turn 13 the summer of the next year (6/21) and Tadashi is in between both of them. Feel free to message me if you want to know why I chose those times. Hiro is about 6 in the story and won't be in it much because he's not really part of the friend group yet. The canon says that Tadashi is only 4 years older than Hiro but that doesn't make a lot of sense to me for several reasons. Agree to disagree on that. It's just a fanfic.**

**Also gosh this chapter makes me a little sad. Only a little though, because things are going to get better for our kiddos! Probably!**

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"Stop! You're too good at this! It's hardly fair," Tadashi laughed as his other best friend Fred beat him in a player versus player fighting game.

"You just need to know the right tools to use against each opponent," Fred answered, wise beyond his years when the problems were equivalent to a comic book or video game.

"I wish I had better tools in real life then. There are a couple of opponents I'd like to knock out." Tadashi pantomimes striking down the final boss.

"What's bothering you Tadashi? Maybe I've got the answers."

"It's my other friends. They seem to have the worst families. I know that one of them is getting physically abused and the other seems to be getting verbally abused and is grounded for long stretches if he makes the smallest mistakes. Like for instance right now he's grounded for a month because he was like 10 minutes late to dinner. I want to square up with a bunch of adults and punch their lights out. But violence isn't the answer…" Tadashi sighed. He wanted to help people. That didn't include leaving a trail of broken bones and bruises. Other people could leave pain as their legacy. Tadashi intended to leave healing as his.

"Do your friends want you to get involved?" Fred asked, which was another fairly wise statement.

"No," Tadashi sighed, "They always say that they're fine."

"People don't like talking about bad stuff. I don't like talking about bad stuff either. You just have to be there for them if they ever choose to open up. And if they never do, at least you were there for them the whole time. Sometimes people get to fight side by side with a friend. But sometimes the game has to be single player. Maybe you should talk to your aunt about it though. She might have a better solution for you if things are as serious as you say they are." Tadashi grappled with the idea and decided that if he saw another sign of Leiko's bruises or a worse injury, he would go to Aunt Cass for advice. He really didn't know how to help Wes apart from what Fred had said.

"Thanks for the advice, Fred. Do you want to play the next level?"

"Absolutely, let's go."

Tadashi had a lot to think about after leaving Fred's house. He kept wondering if there was more that he could do for Wes and Leiko. He wanted to have them over for dinner at least but they always made excuses. Wes had to have family time. He was grounded right now for being late for dinner. Tadashi couldn't get the sight of Wesley's sad eyes, glancing downward as he walked toward his brother in shame, out of his head. It seemed akin to torture to humiliate a middle-schooler like that. As an older brother himself Tadashi felt like he would never treat Hiro the way Damon treated Wes. It wasn't fair. Tadashi got angry again, and then he got sad.

When Wes was grounded, which was frequently, Tadashi spent a lot of time alone with Leiko and a lot of time alone with Fred. Fred was easy to talk to, to get along with, to spend time with. Leiko was incredibly difficult. Getting to know Leiko had been the hardest thing Tadashi had ever done and he only partially knew her. She'd been so much more guarded when they first met than she was now. Tadashi liked to think that he'd helped her become more trusting but he suspected that Wes had helped more. Perhaps they'd connected on some kind of mutual sense of caution. And then his fear, perhaps, had made her even braver, because it gave her someone to protect from the harsh realities that they saw in the world.

Tadashi, Leiko, and Wes each had different methods of coping with cold realities. Wesley needed order and made as much of the chaotic world as neat and tidy as he could. Leiko would fight anyone who tried to take advantage of her or her friends. And Tadashi was determined to help make the world a better place by helping those who were in need. Fred seemed to be a combination of Leiko and Tadashi, willing to help anyone and fight for justice. Though he'd kept it contained, he'd been really upset when Tadashi mentioned that his friends were in toxic situations. But then Tadashi had said that violence wasn't the answer and Fred had let it go.

Leiko, however, was all for a well-placed punch.

"If I see Damon again he's getting a black eye," Leiko promised.

"That's not what Wes would want, Leiko. That would only make things worse."

"We only get to see Wes at school nowadays and he looks miserable. Can you imagine what he's going through right now?" Leiko assumed the worst and it swayed Tadashi a lot, but he would not resort to violence.

"I know! But there's nothing we can do about it aside from a confrontation that Wes wouldn't want."

"We can't just do nothing, Tadashi."

"Yeah, but we don't have the right tools to deal with his problems."

There was one thing that wasn't terrible about being grounded. Wes had a lot of time to tidy up his room and finish homework and extra credit. He made things perfect and hid behind his door, where it was supposed to be safe. But he couldn't fix all the imperfection on the other side of the door. And he couldn't fix the imperfection inside of himself. And he was so terribly alone…

He couldn't help the breakdowns. Alone in his room with nothing left to do, wishing desperately that he could order his mind the way he ordered his room. But his mind was impossible, a burden on himself and on his family. They didn't know what to do with him and he didn't either. They'd tried to put him in therapy three years ago, when he was ten, and it hadn't worked. He'd felt too uncomfortable being analyzed and the whole thing had driven him to tears. After that had failed because of Wes's emotional outburst, his parents had tried a new tactic. Pretend like nothing was wrong. Despite a clinical evaluation they pretended like Wes didn't have some form of OCD and so Wes was left alone to deal with whatever was wrong. Khary, his younger brother, was too young to understand what was going on with Wes and Damon often sided with their parents, offering only meager support to Wesley.

So, on days like this when all Wes could think was that something was wrong with him, Wes would stay in his room, curled up on his bed or the corner, and cry. He was ashamed that he was a teenager who still cried frequently, but he couldn't help it. He hid it from his friends, but he couldn't hide it from himself. He was broken, and he didn't have the tools to solve his problems.


	3. The Right Tools

**I'm getting excited about this story! This chapter is supposed to be happier. This story is connected to my other stories but none of the stories have an exact timeline because there are several branching AUs. This will probably be the last chapter update for this story until the New Year, but we'll see how I feel. I'm also going on vacation the first week of the New Year so I expect to write a lot but publish/update little until I'm back, thanks for understanding.**

**Enjoy and please review if you liked it!**

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"Can you guys hang out after school?" The request at lunch surprised Leiko and Tadashi since it felt like it had been forever since Wes was first grounded.

"Are you finally free?" Tadashi asked with a grin and an offered fist bump.

"Yeah, yesterday, actually, but I wanted to test the waters so I didn't say anything." Wes bumped fists with Tadashi.

"I can hang out," Leiko said.

"Me too. What do you want to do?"

"Can we work on something in your garage? I've been making sketches for a new type of laser. It might not work but I think it's a cool idea…"

"I'd love to see your idea! We can go after school. We can get snacks from the cafe. You haven't hung out with us for forever, Wes, you can let me treat you this time..."

"Okay, but I'll pay you back."

"If that's what it takes to get you to agree, sure, you can pay me back."

"Thank you," Wes said gratefully. He'd have money after Christmas, his grandparents on both sides always gave the grandkids 20 dollars in their stockings. It would be a while, of course, but Tasashi knew he was good for it.

"Ooh, what are you guys doing for Thanksgiving?" Tadashi asked excitedly, wheels turning in his head. He wanted to help his friends! Maybe this would be the perfect way to do it.

"I'll be with family," Wes said, looking apologetic.

"I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm not about to interrupt your family holiday."

"Please, Leiko? Please, please, please, please, please?"

"I don't celebrate stuff," Leiko insisted.

"That's really sad," Wes blurted, looking at her, wheels turning his head, starting plans that wouldn't have a pay off for years. Tadashi was looking for something sooner.

"Just eat dinner with us, Leiko. And then you don't have to be alone."

Leiko looked between the two of them, sighing, "You're not going to leave this alone, are you?"

"No, not at all," Tadashi confirmed.

"Fine. If I don't have any other plans that day I'll spend Thanksgiving with you."

"Yes!" Tadashi cheered as the lunch bell rang. Wes couldn't help feeling jealous. He wanted to spend Thanksgiving with his friends more than anything. He sighed a bit as he gathered his things to head to class. One day, if things went his way, he'd have his own space and he could celebrate or not celebrate holidays his own way. That was one of the things that kept him going.

"Let's meet up after school and we'll head over to my place," Tadashi called after them, and then they slogged through the rest of the day, motivated by their afternoon plans.

Wes was excited about having the whole afternoon to spend with his friends. He was ahead on homework and dinner wasn't until 6:30 tonight because his dad was coming home from an orthodontics convention and would be a little later. So Wes had more time with his friends and, almost as importantly, with his friend's tools.

For Leiko and Wes, Tadashi's garage was like a sanctuary. Wes went straight to Tadashi's toolset and began to organize it. Leiko spotted something in the corner. She gestured at it.

"Whose bike is that?"

"I found it busted up and abandoned on the curb. I was going to fix it up and sell it but if you wanted to fix it for yourself I'd be okay with that."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it'll save me some work so that I can focus on other projects and I'll be happy knowing that it's in good hands."

"Thank you…" Leiko sized up the bike and then grabbed a wrench from the box Wes was sorting.

"Hey!" Wes said, "I was using that."

"Organizing is not using."

"Just put it back in the right spot when you're done," Wes pleaded. He finished sorting and then got out his school notebook. He didn't have a proper sketchbook for his designs. He'd used to use the one he had for his old art class but it and a lot of his designs had gotten ruined when he'd let Khary do some doodling and he'd spilled juice. Wes wasn't mad at his brother, he'd been like six at the time and had cried hard while he apologized. Designs could be recreated on similar paper. It was fine. Tadashi pulled up a stool and sat next to him, getting out his sketchbook.

"What are you working on?" Tadashi asked while Leiko began to disassemble the bicycle.

"I'm kind of trying to reverse engineer your 3D printer? I don't have the equipment but if I can figure out an existing product then I'll be able to understand lasers better. I think that I could innovate for precision."

"That's awesome! You're welcome to take apart my 3D printer and put it back together if you're careful. I don't think we could get a new one if this one breaks."

"I don't think I will need to take it apart, but if I did the whole process would be thoroughly monitored and documented. Right now I just want to sketch. It's nice here…" Wes smiled at his friend and Tadashi grinned back, although that statement felt sad, for some reason. Like Leiko not celebrating things.

"You can work here whenever you need to. And you can use any parts that I have. I want to see your innovation, Wesley. I know you're going to do really cool, important things."

"What are you working on?" Wes asked, looking over Tadashi's sketchbook.

"Working on some robotic stuff. Figuring out which designs come across as the most non-threatening."

"I'd be happy to help," Wes offered shyly.

"That would be awesome!" They poured over Tadashi's designs, Wes occasionally pitching in his own designs, two hands flying over the paper as they created. At one point Wes looked over and saw Tadashi's watch.

"Hey, Tadashi, Leiko, I need to head home. I don't want to risk another grounding."

"I forgot snacks!" Tadashi realized.

"It's okay, we didn't need snacks."

"Next time."

"I'm still gonna pay you back for them."

"You really don't have to do that." Wesley disregarded the statement and turned to face Leiko, hard at work in the corner.

"Bye, Leiko!"

"Oh, bye Wes." Wes waved goodbye to Tadashi and headed home, early and able to move at a leisurely pace.

"Do you want snacks, Leiko?" Tadashi asked, squatting next to her as she disassembled the bike to work on each piece.

"Nah, it's kind of late."

"Do you want to stay for dinner?"

"Nope."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I just want to finish taking the bike apart and then I'm heading home too."

"Can I help?"

"Sure, they're your tools, grab one."

Wes got home with about 45 minutes until dinner, and since he'd gotten ahead on homework over the grounding he went to play with Khary. It wasn't a big surprise that Khary had some big crazy plot he wanted to act out with their toy lightsabers. And so he and his little brother duked out their Sith and Jedi adventures. It was a little thing, but it made both of them a little bit happier, for just a little while longer.


	4. Thanksgiving

**It was just Valentine's day! So here's a Thanksgiving chapter! But at least mini Tadashi, GoGo, and Wasabi are back!**

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Wes was doing his best to not move as much as humanly possible since it was early in the morning and Khary was asleep against Wesley's torso, which was apparently cozier than the car seat Khary was in. Wes was a little bleary-eyed from the earliness and was close to falling asleep from boredom and tiredness. He yawned, trying not to lean on Damon who might not like it. He glanced at his older brother, who had a tasteful mohawk and the start of a beard. Wesley kind of thought he was the coolest ever, and so it really hurt when Damon did stuff like call him neat freak. To be fair, that's what his mom called him too sometimes…

"Wes?" Damon whispered, passing over a notebook. Tic Tac Toe. Wes grinned and put an X in the corner. Damon could've spent the entire ride on his phone, instead, he and Wes wasted a couple of sheets of paper in Damon's science notebook, coming out about even on the victories before Wes fell asleep as well, head just barely nudging Damon's shoulder.

Tadashi got up early for Thanksgiving himself, but not because they were going anywhere. He was up early because he was so excited about having Leiko over for Thanksgiving. Aunt Cass readily agreed to the extra guest, overjoyed that Tadashi's friend would be joining them. She really liked Tadashi's friends. Tadashi was a bit obsessive over the festivities because he wanted to make sure everything was perfect. He set up the table as soon as he was allowed to and kept Hiro distracted so that he didn't disrupt the place settings. Hiro didn't seem to care at all that Tadashi's friend was coming over. He just wanted to watch the parade on TV and eat turkey and pumpkin pie.

When Hiro was thoroughly distracted Tadashi went to help Aunt Cass, his foot tapping impatiently as he waited for Leiko to arrive. She wasn't late, but he was impatient. Everything had to be perfect.

Leiko was up early as well. Not because she was excited about Thanksgiving but because she hadn't been able to sleep with her father arguing loudly with whichever one of his idiot friends had driven him home ten minutes ago. Leiko didn't want to be around when he figured his crap out so she slipped out the window and headed out.

She was starting a slow walk toward Tadashi's house, not wanting to be there too early and overstay her welcome, but wanting to be on the better side of the city as soon as possible. She pulled her jacket closer around her, trying to put on a mean face and pretend that she wasn't flowering, or whatever the sex-ed teacher had explained was happening to their bodies. She blushed when she thought about how much she wished she understood. She blushed when she thought about how sometimes she wished she had a mom to help her out. But her mom hadn't thought she was worth it, so what good would a mom do?

She arrived at Tadashi's house still a bit early, and his Aunt Cass opened the door, smiling warmly down at Leiko. Leiko felt a little uncomfortable with her bubbly personality, it seemed threatening, like her defenses were supposed to be lowered by that smile but she was still on edge.

"It's good to see you, Leiko. How are things going?"

"Uh… Good. Am I too early?" She didn't immediately resort to I'm sorry. She didn't want to apologize for something that wasn't a problem. Wesley's incessant apologies sometimes bothered her and so she always watched herself before she said something hypocritical, like apologizing for things that no one minded.

"No, you're right on time, come on in. Maybe now that you're here Tadashi will stop running around and trying to make everything perfect. Tadashi! Your friend is here!" Leiko heard footsteps on the stairs before she saw Tadashi, grinning like a stupid little kid.

"Hey! Come upstairs! We're watching the parade!" Leiko followed, still feeling uncomfortable and out of place but willing to put the time in to make her friends happy. Maybe it would be nice having a Thanksgiving for once. Leiko had never actually had one. It was always just her and her dad and the better holidays were when he wasn't around. If he was around, she wasn't. So they didn't have a lot of happy Thanksgiving or Christmas memories together. She realized that this might be the start of something new.

"Lunch will be ready in a minute, make yourself at home, Leiko."

"Thank you, ma'am." Tadashi dragged her into the living room and they chatted about school for a while.

While Tadashi and Leiko were waiting for lunch to start, Wesley and his family were sitting down for their own lunch. Wesley was at the kid's table with Khary and their cousins, Natalie and Noa (both girls). Natalie was a year older than him and was usually pretty nice but she was bitter about having to sit at the kids' table when 17-year-old Damon got to sit with the adults. Noa, an oblivious 8-year-old, didn't realize that she was being slighted and simply attempted to leverage her age against Khary, who at 7 was the youngest at the table.

Wesley sat on the edge between the adult table and the kid table, hardly fitting at either. Every now and then his grandparents barked questions at him about school and dating (Dating? He was 13!) and the like. Every time he was interrogated he flinched and was drawn out of his daydream, wishing he could be with his friends. There was visible tension when his grandpa more than a little rudely addressed Wesley.

"Wesley? You still see that shrink?" Wesley flinched away from all the eyes on him. He was nervous, a shaking hand lost in his dreadlocks, trying not to begin pulling.

"No sir, I haven't gone back to that therapist. I'm fine." It had been three years since he'd gone to therapy and his grandpa still judged him like he'd committed treason.

"Good. Crazy all these kids today who think they're special because they get a little sad every now and then. I get sad all the time and I know that I'm nothing special!"

"Dad," Aaron Ginger said, seeing his son's discomfort.

"What? I'm sick of all those whiny little punks trying to get special treatment because of made-up disorders." Wesley stopped eating sometime after that. His stomach couldn't stop churning.

Meanwhile, the last dish had just been set down on Aunt Cass's table.

"Alright kiddos, dig in. Leiko we have plenty so get as much as you want." Leiko was hesitant at first but soon filled up her plate.

"It's really good, Ms. Hamada."

"Help yourself to seconds! And please, you can call me Aunt Cass. Any friend of Tadashi's is practically part of the family." Leiko blushed but smiled, testing out the words.

"Okay, Aunt Cass…"

Wesley got his appetite back enough around dessert to have a slice of pie, butterscotch apple, his mom's contribution, and his very favorite pie. But he lost that appetite again soon enough when he tried to start cleaning up from dinner.

"Boy!" His grandpa barked, making him shudder and flinch. He hated being yelled at. It made him tense up and start shaking.

"What do you think you're doing, boy?"

"Sorry! Sorry, grandpa! I should have asked first! I'm just washing up the dishes, sorry! I just wanted to be helpful, I'm sorry!" Wesley nearly dropped a plate.

"You're always sorry," his grandpa said disapprovingly, giving a disheartening eye roll, "dishes are the women's work, boy. Natalie can do the dishes."

"What? That's not fair! Wes actually wants to do them!" Natalie protested.

"Dad, just let Wes do the dishes. It makes him feel better to have things in order," Aaron stood next to his son, trying to take sides.

"Don't baby your son, he's more than old enough to listen to his elders. I won't have any grandson of mine acting like a girl. Natalie, do the dishes."

"I'm sorry," Wes apologized openly to his grandpa, tacking on a whispered apology to Natalie, "I'm sorry Nat…"

"It's whatever." Wes's hands were shaking as he left the kitchen and the critical gaze of his grandpa, going to hide in one of the spare bedrooms until he could get his shaking hands to go still.

After the last piece of pie had been finished down to the very last crumb, Leiko had been about to head home. But then she had an idea before she left.

"Aunt Cass?"

"What's up, Leiko?"

"Can I ask you about some uh… Things? In private?" Cass considered for a second before realization struck.

"Of course! We can talk in my bedroom. Tadashi would you mind loading the dishwasher? Hiro, you can help your brother."

"No problem Aunt Cass. Come on Hiro, let's help out."

Leiko was relieved with the privacy and bore her soul to Aunt Cass, asking some questions about things that had been going on recently and receiving Cass's patient, experienced responses.

"Feel free to come to me at any time, Leiko. I know it's difficult to do your best when it feels like there's no one to turn to who can help. But I'll always be happy to help." Leiko went home happy that day, happy to have found something close to family, happy to have something to be thankful for.

Wesley went home that day feeling just the opposite.


	5. Snow Day

**It's been a minute but I'm back! Kind of! Who knows how fast I'll continuously update this but I'm doing my best (?). I have plenty of other stories, many of them one-shots, that you can read while waiting for this to update.**

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There weren't a lot of snow days in San Fransokyo. Like one every five years. When it did happen, it caused a bit of a panic, no one was ready, traffic became slammed, restaurants and grocery stores got choked with added business, and parents by the thousands didn't have caretaking options for their children. Which meant that some people who had younger siblings were stuck with them. Like Wesley and Tadashi.

When Tadashi showed up in the park in almost inadequate winter clothes (it never snowed!), leading an overactive little Hiro by a scarf leash, he and Wesley shared a look.

"You too?" Wes asked while Khary began to poorly make snowballs.

"Yep." The two little boys peered at each other when Khary had stopped making snowballs, performing an inspection as thorough as two puppies meeting for the first time.

"Hiro," Tadashi said, putting a hand on his little brother's shoulder, "this is my best friend Wesley and his little brother Khary. Khary, I'm Tadashi, it's nice to finally meet you."

"Khary is a girl's name," Hiro blurted, staring at Khary, who crossed his arms and stomped his foot in the snow.

"It is not!"

"That wasn't nice, Hiro," Tadashi scolded.

"Sorry," Hiro mumbled.

"S'okay," the seven-year-old softened, holding his hand out to the younger boy so that they could reconcile, "it sounds like a girl's name. It isn't though. It's spelled K, H, A, R, Y." Hiro latched onto the spelling and Khary's hand. K, H, A, R, Y, that made sense to him. Girls' names must be spelled differently.

"My name is spelled, H, I, R, O. It sounds like hero though which is spelled H, E, R, O." Khary was polite enough to not tell Hiro that he, a first-grader, already knew how hero was spelled.

"Look at them," Wes laughed, "they're either going to be best friends or enemies by the end of this."

"As long as I keep this troublemaker out of the cafe for a few hours, I'm fine with either outcome," Tadashi laughed as well before looking around at the field of snow, "hey, Hiro, Khary, do you guys wanna make a snow fort?" Soon all four boys were deep in their endeavors.

"Hey," Wes asked later, slumped against the wall of their snow fort, which was actually just that one wall. Khary and Hiro were a few feet away, building up a faceless army of snowmen to pelt with snowballs.

"Yeah?" Tadashi was making up his own snowballs, about to launch a secret attack on their brothers.

"Where's Leiko today?"

"I don't know. I told her we were hanging out."

"Do you think she's okay?" Wesley asked, plunging his gloved hands into the snow to aid Tadashi in the assault.

"Oh yeah, sure. We'll see her tomorrow. Unless it's another snow day." Tadashi smirked and launched a snowball, hitting Hiro in the back of the head with the soft lump of snow and causing him to faceplant into one of his creations.

"Oh no way, all of this will be gone by tomorrow, it's already getting warmer."

"Ah, bummer. Oh well, it can't last forever. Better enjoy it now." Wheels were turning in Tadashi's head, about making a snow machine for his brother and friends, so that they could enjoy it for longer. But that could wait. Right now they had real snow to enjoy, and Hiro had taken the bait. They were gonna have the snowball fight to end all snowball fights.

After the battle had raged on for about twenty minutes, Khary ended up crying. He'd fallen face forward into the snow, which, at that point in the now sunny afternoon was equal parts grass and snow. There was a small scrape across his cheek and he was sobbing like he was in danger of his whole face falling off. Wesley was by his side instantly, cradling his little brother in his lap and gently trying to shush him.

"Hey, hey, you're okay, you're fine, shh… It's going to be okay. You're being so brave, buddy…" Hiro came over, staring at Khary in surprise. Why was he crying? It was just a little scrape. Tadashi moved past Hiro and knelt next to Wesley and Khary.

"Hey, little man, where's it hurt?" Tadashi could obviously see the scrape but he let Khary explain.

"R-r-right h-here…" Khary blubbered, pointing to his left cheek.

"Ooh. I bet that hurts, little man. But you're going to be just fine and it won't hurt for very long. Let me clean that for you, okay?" Khary nodded. Wesley wiped the tears off of his brother's face and Tadashi took a wipe from his coat and cleaned up the little cut. Khary winced a little but didn't pull away.

"You're doing great," Tadashi encouraged, "do you want to pick a bandaid?" Khary peered over the options and picked out a bandage with several colorful parrots on it.

"That's a good choice," Tadashi praised, gently applying the bandage. Khary grinned and showed it off to his brother and Hiro.

"Cool!" Hiro said, offering Khary his hand and helping him up so that they could finish knocking over all of their snowmen. Wesley stood up, feeling nervous.

"Mom is going to be so mad at me," he whispered.

"What? No. Khary just tripped. It's a tiny scratch. It'll be fine."

"I said I'd take care of him. Mom's going to freak out. I was a bad brother."

"You weren't a bad brother. Hey! I'll go in with you! I'll walk home with you and explain what happened. I'll blame myself, I think I threw the last snowball anyway." Wes's eyes widened.

"No!" Tadashi stepped back in surprise at the loudness of his voice, taking just a second to compose himself.

"Okay. If you're sure." Tadashi smiled at his friend, "We can still have fun for the rest of the day. Take your mind off of things. I'm sure she won't be that mad."

"I'm not sure you can say that," Wes said with a shrug, "but maybe you're right."

"Yeah, stay positive. Don't give up on the chance that things could get better." Tadashi walked a few steps before turning around and pointing at Wes with a grin, "And you get to decide what better means."

"Thanks, Tadashi," Wes said with a tired smile before hitting Tadashi in the shoulder with a snowball.


End file.
